How much does a load of laundry cost in Salt Lake City? About 55 to 80 cents at home, counting electricity, water and sewer, before detergent. At a laundromat it's usually around 4 to 8 dollars a load. Foam doesn't charge by the load at all. It's a flat $24.99 a week for one bag, up to 15 lbs, with pickup, washing, drying, folding and delivery included.
Those numbers come from this fall's local utility rates and a few public studies, not national averages. Here's how each one adds up, so you can swap in your own machine and your own bills.
How big is one load, anyway?
Before any math, you need a load size. A field study of real household washers by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance measured an average of 7.6 pounds per load. Most loads landed between 6 and 12 pounds.
So "a load" below means about 7.6 pounds of mixed clothes. Think a week of work clothes, some gym stuff and a towel or two.
What does a load cost at home in Salt Lake City?
At home you pay for three things: power, water and sewer. If you have a gas dryer, gas replaces most of the power.
Electricity. A large in-home study of washers and dryers measured about 3.26 kWh per load on average. That includes the dryer, the washer motor and heating the water with an electric water heater. Rocky Mountain Power's residential energy charge from October through May is 8.7 cents per kWh for the first 400 kWh in a month and 11.1 cents after that, before riders (rate summary). Riders add a little more. That puts power at roughly 30 to 40 cents a load.
Gas dryer instead? The same study measured about 0.1 therm of gas per drying cycle. At Enbridge Gas Utah's winter rate of about 97 cents a therm, drying with gas is closer to 10 cents a load. Your washer and water heater still use some energy on top of that.
Water and sewer. A standard washer uses about 20 gallons a load, and an ENERGY STAR model about 14 (ENERGY STAR). Salt Lake City raised rates on July 1, 2026. Water is $3.36 to $5.28 per CCF for most residential use, depending on your tier, and the sewer flow charge is $9.84 per CCF (city rate comparison). One CCF is about 748 gallons.
One wrinkle: the city bills sewer off your water use from December through February. So the loads you run in winter quietly set your sewer charge for the whole year. Water plus sewer comes to roughly 25 to 40 cents a load.
Add it up. For an all-electric home, that's about 55 to 80 cents a load in utilities. Detergent, dryer sheets and the slow wear on two big appliances come on top, and those depend on what you buy and how long your machines last.
It's cheap in cash. The real cost is the time you spend sorting, switching, folding and putting it all away. Nobody bills you for that, so it's easy to forget it's there.
What does a load cost at a Salt Lake City laundromat?
A typical Salt Lake laundromat charges $3 to $6 per wash cycle, plus 25 to 50 cents for every 8 minutes of drying (Foam's laundromat guide). Most loads need several rounds in the dryer to finish.
So one load usually lands somewhere around 4 to 8 dollars. Big machines for comforters cost more. You'll also want quarters or a loaded card, your own detergent and something to do while you wait.
Laundromats are a great option if you don't have machines at home, and lots of older apartments don't. The tradeoff is time. A full trip with driving, waiting and folding usually takes 2 to 3 hours. If you're in that spot, here's a look at laundry options for rentals without a washer.
What does laundry pickup cost instead?
Foam doesn't price by the load or by the pound. You pay one flat weekly price for a bag. The Essentials plan is $24.99 a week for one bag, up to 15 lbs, and it includes pickup, washing, drying, folding and delivery (full pricing).
There's nothing to weigh, count or feed quarters into. You fill the bag, leave it at your door on your pickup day, and the price stays the same every week.
| What you pay | What's included | Your time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| At home, all-electric | About 55 to 80 cents a load, plus detergent | Your machines, your folding | Sorting, switching, folding, putting away |
| Salt Lake laundromat | About 4 to 8 dollars a load, plus detergent | Machines only | Usually 2 to 3 hours a trip |
| Foam, Essentials plan | $24.99 a week, one bag (up to 15 lbs) | Pickup, wash, dry, fold, delivery | Leaving a bag at the door |
The plan price is the same whether your bag is packed or half full, so it's worth picking the plan that fits a normal week.
So which one is actually cheaper?
At home wins on cash, and it isn't close. If you have machines and you don't mind the work, keep doing it.
The math shifts when your time is the thing that's short. Maybe it's a ski weekend, a game day or a winter when you'd rather not haul a basket down the stairs of an old house. Foam picks up from your door, washes and folds everything, and brings it back the same day with a 4 to 6 hour average turnaround. There are no contracts, and you can pause or cancel anytime. If that sounds like your week, you can start your weekly pickup with one bag.
If you want the longer version of that call, we wrote up whether laundry pickup is worth it. You can also compare what people pay someone to do laundry, see how much laundry service costs per month, or figure out how many bags a week you actually need.
Start with one bag
If your loads cost you more in weekends than in quarters, try one bag a week and see how it feels. You can see Foam plans and check your ZIP in about two minutes.